About the author
Cinnamon Janzer
Cinnamon Janzer is a journalist and content writer based in Minneapolis. She has been a valued writer for Workest since 2019.
20 Employee Survey Questions You Must Ask in 2022
Ensure that your employees feel connected to your business’s mission this year and beyond through employee engagement surveys.
The changes to the working world that Millennials sparked and Generation Z solidified — everything from increased flexibility and transparency to having a stake in social justice issues — aren’t going anywhere.
Workers want more than just a paycheck and health insurance out of their careers today. Chiefly, they want to work for a company that they feel connected to and who they believe has a larger mission in the world that they can get behind.
How do you go about ensuring that your employees feel connected to your business’s mission? Employee engagement surveys are how. These surveys measure, among other things, how much your workers feel like their work matters and makes a difference, and how engaged they are in their work.
Maybe your startup is dipping its toe into the employee engagement survey waters for the first time and you need some help figuring out where to start. Maybe your business has come out of the other end of a tumultuous couple of years and you’re realizing that you might need to do things a little differently moving forward.
Whatever the reason, we’re here with 20 employee survey questions you have to ask in 2022 no matter where you are in your employee engagement process.
Contents
Section 1
What is employee engagement and why does it matter in 2022?
First things first: There is no all-encompassing definition of employee engagement because it can look different at different businesses.
But, in general, for those of you who are new to the subject, employee engagement is typically considered to be a term that relates to the level of commitment and connection to their job, their team, and their organization. Today, employee engagement is widely considered to be essential to success in the modern war for talent. Not only are younger generations demanding it, but numerous studies have found that having engaged employees does more than boost your bottom line.
Businesses with employees who are engaged in their work exceed the financial performance of their competitors by 73%. Further, engaged employees are 44% more productive and companies with them find that they enjoy better customer service and customer loyalty.
It’s important to note that employee engagement is not synonymous with employee satisfaction or employee happiness. Employee engagement is about an employee being more than just happy, satisfied, or content with their work. Engaged employees are active and eager contributors.
Of course, every person is different. But there are a few telltale signs of engaged employees that include:
- Making suggestions or recommendations to improve their work or the business
- Being accountable for their decisions and outputs
- Taking a proactive approach to both their current role and their long-term career
- Working with different teams and departments to accomplish goals
- Cultivating relationships across the business
Want employees like that? Then you should definitely start using employee engagement surveys.
There are a few tips and tricks for compiling effective employee engagement surveys.
- First, it’s highly likely that an anonymous survey is the best way to go. People generally feel safer and freer to voice their honest opinions if there isn’t a fear of backlash standing in the way. The downside is that it can lead people to vent in unconstructive ways that they might not if their name was attached. But the pros likely outweigh the cons.
- Then, be sure that you actually do something with all of the valuable information you receive. If you have employees spend their valuable time filling out surveys and they put in the effort to give thoughtful answers, they’ll feel slighted if nothing ever comes from it. Of course, you can’t make every single change that every person might want. But you should certainly strive to do everything you can as well as communicate about why you weren’t able to do the things that didn’t make the cut.
The goal here is to ensure that your employees continue to feel like it’s worth their time to fill out the surveys you ask them to complete. The thing with employee engagement surveys is that they’re not a one and done deal. In order to get the most out of them, you should be sending out employee surveys regularly. This way you can track changes over time and know that you’re getting reliable information in the process.
Businesses with employees who are engaged in their work exceed the financial performance of their competitors by 73%. Further, engaged employees are 44% more productive and companies with them find that they enjoy better customer service and customer loyalty.
Source: 15Five
Section 2
How to build an employee engagement survey
The best place to start when looking to assemble an employee engagement survey is by getting clear on the goal. Are you looking to take the temperature of your employees’ engagement levels only? Or are you interested in identifying the places where engagement is lacking in order to boost engagement levels? Perhaps you want to see if a recent change you’ve instituted based on previous surveys has made a difference.
Whatever the reason, get crystal clear about it before you start. That way you can keep that singular goal in mind as you develop the questions that will constitute your employee engagement survey. Whenever you’re unsure about how to phrase something or whether or not you should include a certain question, ask yourself if it aligns with your ultimate goal. If it does, include it. If it doesn’t, set it aside so that you can consider using it in a future survey.
Before we get to the specific questions you could include, consider how you’ll structure the questions. Keep in mind that one of the benefits of employee engagement surveys (as long as they’re taken seriously) is that they provide an opportunity for your employees to be heard.
With that in mind, it’s likely best to avoid one word, yes or no questions. Instead, use a Likert scale to have respondents rank their answers. As often as you can, provide space for employees to not only expand on their answers, but offer additional insights and feedback that you might not have thought to ask about on the survey.
Section 3
Remember that the right questions for you to ask are specific to your unique company and employees.
What are good employee engagement questions?
It’s important to remember that the right questions for you to ask are entirely specific to your unique company and the roles and employees who constitute it. Nothing is written in stone. These 20 employee engagement questions are meant as inspiration and a jumping off point. The best thing to do is to use the ones that resonate with you and tweak them to be as tailored to your individual business.
20 Employee Survey Questions to Ask in 2022
Do you see yourself here in 5 years?
?Do you feel supported by your manager?
?Do you feel supported by the company?
?Do you feel like you can effectively collaborate with your team?
?Does the work you do here have an impact?
?Do you have regular opportunities for continued education and advancement?
?Do you have clear goals and objectives for your work?
?How do you describe your work to others?
?How do you describe the company to your friends and family?
?How proud are you to work for this company?
?Do you feel motivated to go above and beyond in your work?
?Do you feel like the company’s leadership is accessible?
?Do you feel like the company’s leadership is transparent?
?Do you have the tools that you need to do your job well?
?Do you receive recognition for your efforts?
?Are there career opportunities for you at this company?
?Do you feel a sense of accomplishment regarding the work that you do?
?Are your opinions valued?
?Is the company aligned with your values?
?What should we have asked that we didn’t ask?
?
Section 4
Questions to avoid asking in your employee engagement survey
Just like there are some tried and true questions that you should definitely consider asking in your employee engagement survey, there are also others you should avoid.
Of course, anything that could be construed as crossing the boundaries of professionalism or employment law should be left out. Plus, the goal isn’t to get as much information out of your employees as possible. The point is to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how engaged your workers are and what’s driving their engagement.
Especially for newer businesses that might be getting into employee surveys for the first time, here are examples of questions you should avoid asking in your employee engagement survey.
Anything that could be construed as crossing the boundaries of professionalism or employment law should be left out.
Questions to Avoid Asking in Your Employee Engagement Survey
Are you looking for another job
?Do you like your boss?
?Do you make enough money?
?Are you planning any major life changes (like getting married or having children) in the near future?
?What is your name and position?
?How would you rate your engagement on a scale of 1 to 5?
?Are your health benefits adequate?
?Does your manager treat certain team members unfairly?
?Does work stress impact your relationship with your partner?
?What has it been like working for the company so far?
? 